Future plans for downtown building means recalling the past

Before the building at 736 S. Main St. was ever home to McPherson’s Hardware store and, most recently, Main & Fifth Consignment & Home Furnishings, it was a dealership for now-vintage cars.

Now, the building’s newest owner — a car buff himself — wants to take things back a few decades.

Wayne Womble lives in New Hill, where he also owns “Womble Corvettes” at 3501 Old US 1 Highway. In February, he purchased the building in downtown Burlington that still sports signs from its hardware store and car dealership days.

It’s current tenant, Main & Fifth, will be relocating to 216 E. Front St. near Company Shops, which business owner Cindy McClintock is renovating. She hopes to open in the next couple of weeks, and will retain her original business name.

“I’m keeping it ‘Main & Fifth,’” said McClintock. “I built my business around that name and I’m going to keep it.”

As for the building actually sitting at the corner of Main and Fifth Streets, Womble wants to remodel it like the old Stanley H. Motor Co. and “go back in time.”

“The Stanley H. Motor Co. was in town on Front Street, before 1929,” said Womble. Then the Hudson, Studebaker and Packard dealership moved to 736 S. Main St. “The signs are still up there.”

Womble has a few cars from the 1930s he’d like to display and said, “We were looking for a place that suited that use … that still was intact, that had the look.” He purchased the location for $200,000, according to Alamance County tax records.

Womble said the beautiful tile floors, and tin ceilings are still in the old building, and the big windows are perfect for displaying his — and possibly others’ — cars.

“I’ll put them in the lower showroom, which is the one on the corner of Fifth and Main (streets),” Womble said. On the upper level, he’ll put some older Corvettes, and possibly do light repair work in the back.

“I’ve been in the Corvette business for 35 years or so,” he said. “I’m going to keep my dealer’s license and maybe do consignment sales,” and allow others to display their vintage rides in his showrooms.

“I don’t have a date,” Womble said. “It’s going to be a little while before we get a chance to get in and remodel.”